Lack of Hustle

[Gino72]

First off, let me say that I have the basketball skills of an artichoke. So, I should be the last guy criticizing a D-1 basketball player, or, for that matter, anyone that takes the court.

That being said, I do know effort and hustle (or lack thereof) when I see it, and at least twice during last night's game, when X had fast break baskets, the closest guy to running it down was Thomas. On both occasions he gave up at about half-court!!

What gives???

[bonabacker95]

Well he played 28 mins had 11 points and 10 boards and was probably our best player all night but the foul trouble he found himself in might have slowed him down on one of the many 3 on 1 breaks.

[bartmitchell]

I thought for the most part our team effort was good last night. Our defensive intensity for the first 10 minutes or so was outstanding. After that we suffered some defensive breakdowns that were more mental than lack of effort and when the game started to get away from us the effort became inconsistent. I think we are still learning to give 100 % effort 100% of the time.

We ran into a buzz saw last night. Xavier is loaded with kids who are better athletes and better basketball players. They are a legit top 20 team, are very well coached and are on a roll. They were hot last night and I think we lost an opportunity to make it a closer game during that stretch in the first half when 4-5 of our shots went half way down but then popped out.

Credit to Mathews and Eleby for working very hard to help the team overcome the loss of Blackburn. Although there are still too many turnovers, they have tightened up their games and I think they are giving their best efforts to give Coach what he wants out of them. I just wish we could play more to Mathews' strength, which I think is to catch-and-shoot with his feet under him facing the basket. His shooting % must go down by half when he tries to launch the 3 off the dribble or turn-and-shoot.

Hall is having a rough time adjusting to A-10 level athletes. In the OOC schedule he just imposed himself on his man by force of will. Now he's facing kids who are stronger, faster and bigger than him and he seems to get discouraged at times and his effort lags. And he's got to cut down on the turnovers !

Mo Thomas keeps getting better and better. If Coach can get 100% effort (physical and mental) out of him every minute he's on the court I think he could be an 2nd-3rd team All A-10 type player next year. The deck is stacked against him because he's a transfer (*edit) and our program doesn't get the respect right now, but I think he has that type of ability.

[magnusbu]

I have to agree with the lack of hustle on many occasions not just the 3 on 1 breaks. I should add I had to watch it on Channel Surfing so I could be off a bit also. But, lack of hustle away from the ball was killing me as I watched. Well all the sudden the ball comes that direction and that guy got caught flat footed. Not so much at the beginning of the game but once X started a run and got up over 10. We also got a little slower running the weave we run, which kind of looks like it would tire you out after awhile. Our offense had to put in more work than their defense because of this and on the opposite end our defense was spread out and all over the floor chasing crisp passes. You can really see our problem and it begins with our guards. (shooting and ball handling)

[Copenhagen]

Jan 22, 2009 11:30:32 GMT -5 bartmitchell said:

I thought for the most part our team effort was good last night. Our defensive intensity for the first 10 minutes or so was outstanding. After that we suffered some defensive breakdowns that were more mental than lack of effort and when the game started to get away from us the effort became inconsistent. I think we are still learning to give 100 % effort 100% of the time.

We ran into a buzz saw last night. Xavier is loaded with kids who are better athletes and better basketball players. They are a legit top 20 team, are very well coached and are on a roll. They were hot last night and I think we lost an opportunity to make it a closer game during that stretch in the first half when 4-5 of our shots went half way down but then popped out.

Credit to Mathews and Eleby for working very hard to help the team overcome the loss of Blackburn. Although there are still too many turnovers, they have tightened up their games and I think they are giving their best efforts to give Coach what he wants out of them. I just wish we could play more to Mathews' strength, which I think is to catch-and-shoot with his feet under him facing the basket. His shooting % must go down by half when he tries to launch the 3 off the dribble or turn-and-shoot.

Hall is having a rough time adjusting to A-10 level athletes. In the OOC schedule he just imposed himself on his man by force of will. Now he's facing kids who are stronger, faster and bigger than him and he seems to get discouraged at times and his effort lags. And he's got to cut down on the turnovers !

Mo Thomas keeps getting better and better. If Coach can get 100% effort out of him every minute he's on the court I think he could be an 2nd-3rd team All A-10 type player next year. The deck is stacked against him because he's a juco and our program doesn't get the respect right now, but I think he has that type of ability.

thanks Bart, your post is a good example of coming to the BagonWagon, reading 10-20 posts and finally coming to a quality, insightful, well written post.

It has "wgt-status" and it is post like yours that have me coming back for more!

[GoPadres]

Jan 22, 2009 11:30:32 GMT -5 bartmitchell said:

I thought for the most part our team effort was good last night. Our defensive intensity for the first 10 minutes or so was outstanding. After that we suffered some defensive breakdowns that were more mental than lack of effort and when the game started to get away from us the effort became inconsistent. I think we are still learning to give 100 % effort 100% of the time.

We ran into a buzz saw last night. Xavier is loaded with kids who are better athletes and better basketball players. They are a legit top 20 team, are very well coached and are on a roll. They were hot last night and I think we lost an opportunity to make it a closer game during that stretch in the first half when 4-5 of our shots went half way down but then popped out.

Credit to Mathews and Eleby for working very hard to help the team overcome the loss of Blackburn. Although there are still too many turnovers, they have tightened up their games and I think they are giving their best efforts to give Coach what he wants out of them. I just wish we could play more to Mathews' strength, which I think is to catch-and-shoot with his feet under him facing the basket. His shooting % must go down by half when he tries to launch the 3 off the dribble or turn-and-shoot.

Hall is having a rough time adjusting to A-10 level athletes. In the OOC schedule he just imposed himself on his man by force of will. Now he's facing kids who are stronger, faster and bigger than him and he seems to get discouraged at times and his effort lags. And he's got to cut down on the turnovers !

Mo Thomas keeps getting better and better. If Coach can get 100% effort out of him every minute he's on the court I think he could be an 2nd-3rd team All A-10 type player next year. The deck is stacked against him because he's a juco and our program doesn't get the respect right now, but I think he has that type of ability.

Good post. Xavier is better, plain and simple.

I think you are on the money with Hall. He seemed to bail out on his drives to the post because the defense was able to stay in front of him. That was not happening against lesser competition.

Besides Hall, I was most disappointed with the play of Eleby last night. I thought it was Eleby's worst game. His fouls were reach fouls which means he is not moving his feet on defensive. He threw away at least two balls on inbounds plays (which caused me to have flashbacks to the Sol coached teams). He just seemed out of it until late in the second half.

Thomas and Nicholson definitely held their own. They missed a bunch of easy layups, but they were productive nonetheless.

One correction, Thomas is a D-1 transfer and not a JUCO.